A few weeks before ISE, we saw Casio at BETT, where the company surprised us by launching a new projector (Casio Emphasises Reliability). Most companies hold off on product launches until the larger show in Amsterdam.
When we reached Casio’s stand, the reason for the launch was revealed. Casio used the XJ-V2 as a lead-in to a brand new range of LED-laser hybrid DLP projectors. These new models are part of the Core series, and are known as the XJ-V10X, XJ-V100W and XJ-V110W.
The Core series features 1024 x 768 (V10X) or 1280 x 800 resolution, up to 20,000 hours of life and 10-bit colour. They have HDMI, VGA, micro-USB-B and RS232 ports. Optical zoom levels are 1.5x, with a 2x digital zoom on all models.
Brightness is 3,300 lumens on the V10X, 3,000 on the V100W and 3,500 on the V110W. The V10X has a 1.66-2.42:1 throw ratio (30″ – 300″ image from 0.76m – 7.62m), while the other models have a 1.32-1.93:1 ratio (35″ – 300″ image at 0.89m – 7.62m).
Casio’s other new series is called the Advanced range (XJ-F100W, XJ-F210WN, XJ-F20XN and XJ-F10X). Flexibility is key to these models, which feature a wide range of ports: HDMI (x2), VGA, S-Video, USB-A, micro-USB-B, RJ45 and RS232. All projectors are AMX, Crestron and Extron compatible. Two of the units, the F210WN and F20XN, also have a full-size USB-B port and 2GB of internal memory.
All of these projectors have +/-30° vertical and horizontal lens shift, 20,000-hour lifetime, 10-bit colour and a manual focus.
The F100W and F210WN have 3,500 lumens of brightness, 1280 x 800 resolution and a 1.32-1.93:1 throw ratio; the F20XN and F10X have 3,300 lumens, 1024 x 768 resolution and a 1.66-2.42:1 ratio. These throw ratios produce screen sizes and throw distances identical to the Core models.
Casio told us that the existing M Series will be phased out over the coming months, replaced by the Core and Advanced ranges.
We also saw a demonstration that was well-spread among the other DLP projector makers at the show, although Casio was the only one using LED-laser technology. A reference-quality monitor from Panasonic had been set up alongside a projector display, to highlight the colour accuracy of DLP technology (we got the feeling that DLP maker TI had prompted its partners to do this in response to Epson’s colour light output claims – although CLO is a completely different metric! – TA). Casio said that the projector was a manually-calibrated prototype.
